question Legal letter received stating wrongful acquisition

[R.A.L]

Hi Everyone

Looking for some advice on this subject - brand new territory for me!

Yesterday evening, I received an email from a US based attorney, with an attached letter template, advising me that a domain name I bought earlier in the year had in fact been wrongly/illegally transferred from their client's Godaddy account, prior to my acquisition of it. The firm are now investigating the issue with Godaddy.

The letter requested that I make no attempt to sell/modify/delete the domain, or I may face legal action myself - I should point out that I myself am under no investigation, have no part to play in any wrong doing, and am prepared to assist in any shape, form or matter that may take.

I have checked out both the attorney group (Haug Partners, New York) and the client (The Falconwood Group, New York) they represent, and both seem to be legitimate - this assuaged my immediate concern of a potential scam to acquire the domain at no cost.

I can provide more details if necessary, but am looking for some quick advice on this one - I'm thinking to either contact the attorney, or their client directly, and offer the domain back to them at no cost. The domain in question, which I won't reveal here, is probably mid $xxx in value, and I acquired for less than $20, so I'm thinking the goodwill gesture is probably the way to go.

Any thoughts?

 

[FanCube]

You might want to get directly in touch with the person from Haug Partners that sent you the letter to verify that the letter indeed is legit. GoDaddy might also be able to confirm/disconfirm the information.

 

[R.A.L]

You might want to get directly in touch with the person from Haug Partners that sent you the letter to verify that the letter indeed is legit. GoDaddy might also be able to confirm/disconfirm the information.

That's a REALLY good point - I'm almost convinced it's legit, with others copied in, etc., and the bit of research I've had time to do this morning, but that's an important step I should take first. Thanks!

 

[hxp]

Did you acquire the domain via GoDaddy's expired/closeout domains, or the like?

If you want to co-operate, that's your good will. But, I would certainly look out for my own best interest.

Seems like a disgruntled party to me.

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In the meantime, I'd remove any ads on the domain.

And, I'd refrain from contacting the lawyers or the party they're representing.

If anything, allow GoDaddy to be the mediator between you two.

 

[R.A.L]

The domain was actually acquired via eBay, where I've purchased a handful of brandables this year from a very reputable eBayer, and domainer in general. Thanks for the comment - it's given me something else to think about. Maybe I shouldn't be so hasty to give up the asset without more due diligence on my part.

 

[MayerT]

As others have mentioned here, and to add further:

Contact Haug Partners directly, using a contact number from their website which you reached from Google, not in any way from the letter.

Consider how you acquired the domain, hxp sums this up nicely, if it was via closeout/expired then the client made a mistake and are coming at you all guns blazing which is rather over the top. If you purchased this directly from a third party, then this may add to their legitimacy.

I would not offer to transfer the domain for free, I would certainly co-operate but request to be compensated for your out of pocket expenses and time. I think a reasonable amount for your time would be $50/hour, and you should take into account things like searching through expiring domain auctions (if you acquired it this way), responding to communication, researching the parties and legitimacy of their claims.

Low to mid $xxx is a very reasonable gesture of good will if the client has gone to the effort and expense of having Haug Partners pursue this on their behalf.

Do consider these points as you should not be affected adversely by this.

 

[lowcalls]

Wait until they make a direct demand that you to return the domain as it appears that you are not directly involved with the fraud,it seems that you did everything in good faith.Don't haste in giving back the domain as it might as well be a scam as most frauds always look legit in one way or another.Most important is to check WHOIS if your records are updated there and then wait for their second email to give you more ideas or next cause of action. Domain buying is not like buying a merchandise,you can't prove that it was fraudulently obtained prior to your acquisition because you dealing with a registrar.

 

[hxp]

The domain was actually acquired via eBay, where I've purchased a handful of brandables this year from a very reputable eBayer, and domainer in general. Thanks for the comment - it's given me something else to think about. Maybe I shouldn't be so hasty to give up the asset without more due diligence on my part.

Yeah, definitely.

Doing your own due diligence is of utmost importance.

Compile any and all evidence of your purchase, screenshot what you still can, and make sure you're not cybersquatting.

It's possible that something illegal may have occurred, but I would imagine it's the eBay seller who's responsible (if anyone at all). And, you certainly shouldn't have to pay for his mistakes.

If you know you haven't done anything wrong, don't let yourself be intimidated by guys in suits.

Good luck!

 

[R.A.L]

Yeah, definitely.

Doing your own due diligence is of utmost importance.

Compile any and all evidence of your purchase, screenshot what you still can, and make sure you're not cybersquatting.

It's possible that something illegal may have occurred, but I would imagine it's the eBay seller who's responsible (if anyone at all). And, you certainly shouldn't have to pay for his mistakes.

If you know you haven't done anything wrong, don't let yourself be intimidated by guys in suits.

Good luck!

Thanks again for the advice - will be removing from its parking page when I get back to my laptop a little later today.

 

[BaileyUK]

Interesting one

They've used the wording "wrongly/illegally" in the same sentence. Which seems to indicate this 'May' have been a simple transfer to the Godaddy auctions platform after expiry.

How far back does the original registration date go back Is it from last year (or earlier), or fairly recent ?

 

[D Haynes]

I'd check archive.org and see if there was an active site on the name previously or if it was being forwarded etc and see what the past whois records were. All information is good information.

 

[bluemeteor]

I would bypass the lawyer agency, sell it back to the original owner for a quick flip price.

 

[R.A.L]

Thank you to everybody who has thus far replied to this thread, as well as those who have reached out via DM and offered their support and guidance.

First action I have taken is to contact Haug Partners and establish that this is a genuine claim - it's the real deal as I suspected.

I'm still evaluating my next options, and will be considering all advice I have already received, as well as any still to come. I'll post an update once I have one.

Thanks again!

 

[karmaco]

What I want to know is if you would be approached at all in this semi threatening manner if you had private Whois. If the issue is with GoDaddy why are the contacting you other than to intimidate? I would not have replied at all but then again my Whois is private. Seems the easier tactic would have been to offer you $XXX for it and go about their business but they obviously want it for free.

 

[anantj]

You should have transfered it out of GD first! Doubt they'll fight hard for you

 

[frank-germany]

first get it out godaddy

second ask a lawyer - don't react to those email / letters / calls
tell them your lawyer will handle it

don't put content on it

 

[urlurl]

first get it out godaddy

second ask a lawyer - don't react to those email / letters / calls
tell them your lawyer will handle it

don't put content on it

its a $20 name and in his opinion its only worth $xxx, why would he bother with a lawyer.

 

[bluemeteor]

its a $20 name and in his opinion its only worth $xxx, why would he bother with a lawyer.

Maybe we could find a lawyer from Fiverr.

 

[urlurl]

im sure it can be worked out through the registrar... and if it was found out he bought it from a domainer who stole it... it might be worth a conversation with that person and to let the community know.

my guess is the person who got the lawyer to write the letter may have forgotten to renew the name - we have all seen that scenrio

i'd like to know how this all unfolds

@Netmunch

please keep us posted.

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

If you can contact the previous owner and offer low xxx price for your compensation (optional), wait for reply, it will solve the problem easy way. By the way keep your proof of purchase ready. I am sure you already have that. Don't worry, if the client get domain back easily, he/she/they will disengage their lawyers. Result you happy, client happy and I hope lawyers also happy as the case solved easily and quickly.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I would, as letter requests, make sure nothing is done to the domain. Don't park it. Take it off marketplaces if you have them, etc. Beyond that, I would sit tight (other than doing the due diligence that you have already done to make sure it is legit, and checking at archive what use was made of the domain in past).

If you do end up giving up the domain, it seems to me that at minimum someone (eBay, owner?) owes you for your costs in all this. Good luck - anything like this is stressful, I am sure.

 

[poweredbyme]

I think you are not obligated to reply all the claims you receive. If someone claims "there is a wrongful acquisition" or something else and if you don't agree with them, I don't think you have to cooperate with them. You may let them know you aren't agree with them and let them alone with their claims. People can claim anything. Do you have to help someone to prove something even if you don't think it's correct ? If you are sure you haven't done anything wrong, then you don't need to act as if you were wrong.

 

[frank-germany]

its a $20 name and in his opinion its only worth $xxx, why would he bother with a lawyer.

looks like somebody is judging it differently.

 

[Galaxy Traveller]

looks like somebody is judging it differently.

There is another factor. Netmunch is not want to play as crook.
But the person who want the domain, engaged lawyers without offering a fair price first. Maybe he wants to teach the thief a lesson (I don't know theft or not), then its ok, otherwise I think the person who want domain is a crook if not clearly trademark violation.

 

[jberryhill]

I have checked out both the attorney group (Haug Partners, New York) and the client (The Falconwood Group, New York) they represent, and both seem to be legitimate - this assuaged my immediate concern of a potential scam to acquire the domain at no cost.

https://domaingang.com/domain-crime...valuable-domains-stolen-from-godaddy-account/

https://www.namepros.com/threads/godaddy-account-domain-theft.1082654/